Seattle school buses are stretched thin amid start of academic year

Academics in Seattle Public Faculties stay on strike, with the district canceling courses Thursday for the second day in a row.

• However even as soon as college resumes, it is unclear whether or not all college students will have the ability to depend on their common routes to get to class.

Driving the information: District officers warned final month that not all bus routes could be in service by Sept. 7, which initially was scheduled to be the primary day of the educational yr.

• On the time, the district mentioned households whose bus routes would not be working would get notified by the primary day of faculty.
• Over the previous two days, nevertheless, the district hasn’t responded to questions from Axios in regards to the bus state of affairs.
• It isn’t clear whether or not notifications about route cuts have gone out or not, given the delay within the begin of courses.

State of play: Nationwide, a scarcity of faculty bus drivers is complicating college students’ commutes.

• However Seattle’s points with its longtime college bus contractor, First Scholar, stretch again years.

Zoom in: Earlier this yr, state regulators recognized 396 security violations by First Scholar, which the corporate admitted to as a part of a settlement with the state Utilities and Transportation Fee.

• Final fall, the corporate’s lack of ability to seek out sufficient drivers brought on the college district to droop greater than 140 bus routes.
• Earlier than that, a Seattle Occasions investigation discovered practically 5,000 cases between 2016 and 2019 when buses by no means confirmed up or had been greater than an hour late.

This yr, after a delayed and less-than-smooth bidding course of, Seattle Public Faculties determined to rent two corporations to function buses, so that each one routes would not essentially be left to First Scholar.

• The brand new firm, Zum, has promised to assist modernize the college district’s transportation system and make it extra environment friendly.

Sure, however: Zum remains to be ramping up its service, the district says, and isn’t in a position to tackle 50% of the district’s bus routes simply but.

• That problem got here up throughout contract negotiations over the summer time and wasn’t a shock, the district instructed Axios.
• Nonetheless, it is brought on the district to assign extra routes to First Scholar for now.
• Even with that reassigning of routes, nevertheless, “some bus routes might not be in service for the beginning of the college yr,” a district spokesperson wrote in an electronic mail to Axios final Friday.

What they’re saying: Zum says it will likely be totally staffed and in a position to deal with half of the district’s bus routes by January.

What we’re watching: Whether or not Zum will have the ability to meet that deadline — and whether or not First Scholar will have the ability to deal with all of the routes it says it may within the meantime.

Of be aware: For now, the college district is encouraging dad and mom to benefit from a brand new state program that lets riders 18 and youthful board public buses and different transit at no cost.